"We're there to help young people who are just going through a tough time. When you walk in there's a smiling face and we give young people an opportunity to sit down and talk about their problems and we essentially walk alongside them and help them to get through things," she says.

"A study of nearly 4000 students aged 14 to 17 years in Gold Coast high schools found that 34 percent had some form of serious personal, emotional, behavioural or mental health problem and 12 percent reported feeling suicidal. However, less than 6 percent actually sought help."

Sam Jones was one of those students.

He says he went to headspace after trying a number of counsellors without success.

"I found it hard to find somebody I could have a good rapport with, it was always as if I was being spoken down to," he says.

"When I came to headspace it was more of a level playing field... it makes you feel as though you're in a safe place."

Sam was at first reluctant to go but when his mother took him along he felt almost instant relief.

"I thought 'here we go again, another one of these' but even from the moment of walking in it was just this inviting feeling."

He adds that a huge reason it worked for him is that he was given the space to sort through his problems in his own mind.

"It's a lot more personalised, there'll be a lot more chatting and it sort of works to you, finding out your own problems instead of being told what's wrong with you and I think that's a huge part of why I believe it works so well."

The demand for help from Sam and thousands of others has been so great that headspace has struggled to accommodate every person who has come to them for help.

"We've certainly had periods where we've had long waiting lists and we've really struggled with that, it's not desired, we want to see people straight away when these needs come up," says Justine.

But she says increased federal mental health funding has helped and allowed them to move into a bigger home in Southport.

"We've since been able to offer increased service and increased the size of our building - we've got more rooms, more seats, and more staff which is wonderful. So we're seeing young people sooner.

"We want to be able to see as many young people that need our help as we can."

The new site is located at 26 Railway Street in Southport and will be formally opened on Friday 16 March.